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Tumultuous meetingHospital board declines to reconsider positionBy K.II, Everln EditorThe Lucas County Memorial Hospital Board refused last night to reconsider its May 22 decision to retain hospital administrator Robert 9iemun. despite the pleas of a crowd estimated at over 150Toe turbulent oratorical irrrtiw. which lasted iWtlI post midnight, resolved i if the issues discussedAuseum in LucasmmfwisneedSielin,arceatherhave (paper o Mrs.fewPaul Chrlstoffers. the attorney representing Itoctcrs Joseph Sage. Jamo wim and Robert Gustafson Kid the (cord that it was slrruet certain now that the dxtors would leaveGustafson announced earlier this month that he would terminate his practice July I. and Wilson announced Wednesday that his practice wcuM terminate August 1.fYanccs Mullen, who had teen retained to represent several of the cillwns ut» attended the meeting, charged the Charlton newspa pert with a whitewash of a State Health Department report on the situation, and urged the Wd In an impaasionod plea, “to let us have a choice in cur doctors.” by voting to request Sherman s resignation. Mullen along with several other people in the crowd, wren cn to eiiOcizr the bard for miking light lt;4 the Mate regret and ignoring what he culled. ”lhe severity of the situatrxiTherebetween board members and concerned citizens who had talked with cither the health inspector who made the report or the Health QsrTrtttloner who released It. a* to the actual aerVcusrxss «f the report s recmsmli bcrnAt cne point in the meeting debate grew quite heated and at least one minor scuffle ensued. Finally it was suggested that Sherman tt over the state report ar»l inform the public what he was doing to comply with its reccntmendaUonsSherman agreed to theprocess or being Implemented. He stated thit there were nurses assigned to the responsibility of the nursery at all Urn**, but noted that they were not always physically present at the station as suggested He conceded that there were fewer RN’s at the hmpltal than was ideal and that ‘‘we have mcee LPN's than the normal bu ixted that the hospital was currently advertizing for rroreRh“srcqurat and despite and lt;xgwere numerousinflicting views expressedinterruptions and ovgeries. the npjonty of the crowd listened respectfully The report stated that there wen a need for a permaner* Director of Nursing at thr hospital Sherman said that Ihe hmpUal had never been without a full time RN serving in that capacity In regard to the nursing staff organization, the three doctors in a twelve pant request released earlier this year, had asked for nur nurses to be hired, routine inservtc* training programs, icnmodiet. nptiliawWnef mciderg reports. full time nursery personnel, and doctors to be accompanied by nurses on all rounds TV state report had agreed thai seme of these requests were justified and sVuld VCtXTtCl(dSherman responded by saying that structural changes in the nursing staff had either already been implemented or were in theThe state report had ab» reccsrmendcd that a uniform policy be created for reporting incident repxts. and Sherman indicated that punt had been corrected and that a formal policy had been written and posted.The doctors had alsorequested that nurslnjpengewwl be assigned shifts in the emergency rtn and the state report had agreed that adeouate numbers of personnel sVuld he provided on or call from the Vepital should they V needed in the emergencyTV stale report noted the* no regular insemce training (such as the three doctor* had requested) existed, and recommended one be iriliatod as soon as pmnhle.aierman read a lengthy list cd programs that had teen cffcred in the past year but conceded they were not rmndatory.I wish we had an in-service director, V said, and the report’s reccm mendatlons are in the process of being implement ed following the nursing department meeting last ninthCurrently orientation and nservtce training are urrier tV direction of IV director of musing. Sherman said The state report also recommended the establishment of a joint Conference Committee, of a member at IV staff, the hreptal Word, and the administrator. Sherman pointed out that such a board had been formed and held Its first mreting Mcrday.e deed W wass ill be rticles it willPhysicians assistant status unchanqedThis was one of the •nxrtorr. points of issue at IV meting as it was pcuaod«» that the Lucas County Mmwnal Hospital b cne of the few In the Made that provides on-call 2* hour amtxilance service.Sherman said IV nursro could be called to the emergency room at any time by intercom system that while he was sure mart pcrscmcl knew- the locatxn if drugs and supplies, the impatal also maintained an mdex system for rapid retrieval if their location was not knownThere had been charges that some nursing pcrwrod were unfamiliar with tV location of some emergencyThe doctors, in their request, had asked for medical staff approval* allmablohnvnt of oqiapmrnt purchase priority lists Sireman said priority lists had been requested by him and at present cne physician had presented his. The urn was net named, state report did nrtc that there was currently no shortage of equipment or supplies at tV hospitalThe report also reccrrmended that a full time 4, Hospital mooting3 -CSlthat ttoroDr. Wilson terminates
Newspaper Details
Chariton Herald Patriot
Chariton, Iowa, US
Thu, Jun 20, 1974
Page 10
Full Page
Clipped by
Mid-Continent L.
MO, USA 26 Sep 2017
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